Janaki in Barcelona
Apr. 20th, 2003 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zana16I was in Barcelona when I wrote this. I was surprised that even when the students quietly rioted, symbolicly destroying a few trash cans, the police didn't do anything. This, I realized, was civil disobedience in a country where the official party line of the President could not be more different from the opinions of the people and everybody else, including the government and police. It gives me hope in democracy.
Sunday the 13th of April, day 41 of the War on Iraq. In Barcelona's Plaça de Sant Jaume, I have yet another reason to be annoyed with my president. To protest the war, the students have taken over the square and created a commune and a "Forum Social de Dialeg". Thus, the traditional sardana dancing has been cancelled. Since the students are quite rightly protesting against a butchery and disgrace to human rights -- of both sides -- I plame Bush, not them.
Knowing that the tourists will come anyways, a local band has commandeered what space there is left, and a lively beat animates more than one pair of feet in the square. An old man approaches me and speaks in rapid-fire Catalan; I smile, nod, and answer "journaliste" and "de la Francia" as he tries to explain something to me, until he goes away. Both lies, but at least he understood me. A few of the more supple girls start bellydancing, to the whistles and catcalls of the crowd. The sinuous bodies move like rich honey, taunting each other with modestly downcast eyes and illicit flashes of skin. In a country where naked pin-up posters take up a third of the magazine space in the local kiosques, a fully clothed body is much more exciting, and the hips become or more importance than the breasts.
Plastered everywhere are signs, stickers, and buttons that read "Mo More War", "Aznar Out", "Stop the Busherie" and "Bush = asesino, Bush = terrorista" in Catalan, Spanish, and English. Dedicated students hand out fliers lsting companies to boycott. Every big-name American corporation, with the possible exception of Walmart which doesn't exist in Spain (but should be boycotted anyways), is listed. The strategy bothers me for a reason it takes me several minutes to pin down. Sure, some of these companies are profitting tangentially from the war, but not all of them. I'd say boycott Haliburton, which is making millions off of war contracts. It hits me then: they're proposing to boycott innocent bystanders. The thought marvels me. I should have expected something like this, but somehow I am surprised. Surprised by the fact that 1) this could actually work and 2) it would actually work better than boycotting just Haliburton. When the innocents suffer, they put pressure on the government to clean up its image. Companies like CocaCola and Dell have the money to promise campaign donations in exchange for a better world market climate.
Of course, it's not that simple. Workers will be laid off, and the only public outcry will be about the loss of value of stocks. The true innocents, the workers, will suffer until the US and the companies make a few small gestures and everything's forgotten, and Justice is sacrificed once again at the altar of Capital. And then the cycle will begin over again.
Marx was wrong about many things. He didn't suspect, for example, that fear of the proletariat in revolt led to the creating of a welfare state, a safety net just strong enough to look reassuring and pacify the masses. He didn't realize that education would be hijacked by the capitalists and turned to serve their political and religious agendas. He thought the educated students would be able to see through their parents' ideologiy and want to change. If only the students wre as idealistic as dear Karl! I mourn for his dream, for though it changed the course of history, I fear in the long run it brought and will bring more violence and harm than good.
Sunday the 13th of April, day 41 of the War on Iraq. In Barcelona's Plaça de Sant Jaume, I have yet another reason to be annoyed with my president. To protest the war, the students have taken over the square and created a commune and a "Forum Social de Dialeg". Thus, the traditional sardana dancing has been cancelled. Since the students are quite rightly protesting against a butchery and disgrace to human rights -- of both sides -- I plame Bush, not them.
Knowing that the tourists will come anyways, a local band has commandeered what space there is left, and a lively beat animates more than one pair of feet in the square. An old man approaches me and speaks in rapid-fire Catalan; I smile, nod, and answer "journaliste" and "de la Francia" as he tries to explain something to me, until he goes away. Both lies, but at least he understood me. A few of the more supple girls start bellydancing, to the whistles and catcalls of the crowd. The sinuous bodies move like rich honey, taunting each other with modestly downcast eyes and illicit flashes of skin. In a country where naked pin-up posters take up a third of the magazine space in the local kiosques, a fully clothed body is much more exciting, and the hips become or more importance than the breasts.
Plastered everywhere are signs, stickers, and buttons that read "Mo More War", "Aznar Out", "Stop the Busherie" and "Bush = asesino, Bush = terrorista" in Catalan, Spanish, and English. Dedicated students hand out fliers lsting companies to boycott. Every big-name American corporation, with the possible exception of Walmart which doesn't exist in Spain (but should be boycotted anyways), is listed. The strategy bothers me for a reason it takes me several minutes to pin down. Sure, some of these companies are profitting tangentially from the war, but not all of them. I'd say boycott Haliburton, which is making millions off of war contracts. It hits me then: they're proposing to boycott innocent bystanders. The thought marvels me. I should have expected something like this, but somehow I am surprised. Surprised by the fact that 1) this could actually work and 2) it would actually work better than boycotting just Haliburton. When the innocents suffer, they put pressure on the government to clean up its image. Companies like CocaCola and Dell have the money to promise campaign donations in exchange for a better world market climate.
Of course, it's not that simple. Workers will be laid off, and the only public outcry will be about the loss of value of stocks. The true innocents, the workers, will suffer until the US and the companies make a few small gestures and everything's forgotten, and Justice is sacrificed once again at the altar of Capital. And then the cycle will begin over again.
Marx was wrong about many things. He didn't suspect, for example, that fear of the proletariat in revolt led to the creating of a welfare state, a safety net just strong enough to look reassuring and pacify the masses. He didn't realize that education would be hijacked by the capitalists and turned to serve their political and religious agendas. He thought the educated students would be able to see through their parents' ideologiy and want to change. If only the students wre as idealistic as dear Karl! I mourn for his dream, for though it changed the course of history, I fear in the long run it brought and will bring more violence and harm than good.
